Gas mains on land, conservatories & other solutions...

Squiggly_Diddly

Sorry if this rambles a bit...

I am in the process of buying the house I live in & have been planning to add a conservatory to add some more living space & rejig a couple of partition walls inside the house. I had to ring up the gas board as every year I get a calendar saying there is a pipeline on the land & phone before I do any work. So have duly done that, received the plans & just now had a phone call from an engineer saying I cannot build anything within 9 metres of the pipe & it looks to him as though the pipe is 9 metres from the back of my house...
I shall be gutted if this is the case as the whole point was to create enough space for me & my fast-growing teenagers....

Am now thinking of what else I could do if it is the case - my thoughts are to put a solid roof pergola (are there such things?) from my patio doors to the edge of the patio & then get a summerhouse/shed put next to that, & run some electrics in there (so I can have some crafting stuff/sewing machine/lighting).

Does anyone have any idea if you can get solid roof pergolas, how much they are (vaguely), and what it could cost to run electrics out to a shed (say about 10-15 feet away).

I suppose at least I could use the rest of the money to strip out & replace my bathroom, and recarpet the house, maybe rearrange the kitchen ... My brain is going round now as my plans are suddenly up in the air...


Am so fed up now.. :-(

silvercar

Is the ruling that you can't build or that you accept that your work may need to be dug up if there is a problem with the gas pipe?

I know people who had a similar situation with a water mains and they have built over it and taken the risk. Apparently, if there was a problem the water board would then have a duty of care to try and get access from another side if at all possible.

Squiggly_Diddly

Apparently it is a rule that I cannot build a "habitable building" within the 9 meters (or 8.5 as the engineer who came out this morning said). Which seems stupid to me.... I can understand if I was wanting to build within a metre or so, but the conservatory will still be some 4.5 / 5 metres away. The engineer who came out this morning to measure out where the pipe actually is was very nice & could understand my point of view, & is going back to speak to his boss & then get him to speak to me direct. He mentioned about some sort of disclaimer perhaps... Which would be a sensible way round things. I said otherwise I would be putting a whacking great big shed/workshop between the patio & the gas pipe & that would end up right next to it!! (but as that is not a habitable building it's ok...?!?!)

I also suggested that i could put the conservatory on a metal 'raft' type base rather than digging footings (they are used quite often on conservatories on houses up the harbour), and would bring in it a metre or so if I really had to as well....

Apparently they fly over in a helicopter every couple of weeks along the gas main (as this one goes across to Brighton somewhere!) to check no-one is building too close!!!! So Big Brother is watching you....

garreth

I am confused as a conservaory is not classed as a habitable building? not for building regulations anyway. The steel base system is called durabase and you still have to dig 450mm x 450mm x 450mm holes for adjustable legs to stand on, although if durabase known there is a gas pipe and where it is, they will make sure they dont put feet there.

Squiggly_Diddly

Oh, that's a useful snippet about the habitable building, I may look into arguing that with them if I don't have any joy.... Thank you..